This invention relates to an improved particle spacing and metering device and is particularly directed to such a device for separating and metering granular substances composed of substantially uniform particles which are to be uniformly metered at various desired rates from a bulk supply.
There are several applications for such a spacing and metering device, e.g. (a) separating and metering pills for accurate electronic counting; (b) separating and metering manufactured components (e.g. ball bearings) for accurate counting and feeding to assembly machines; and (c) metering plant seeds accurately for sowing.
The third application above is particularly important in the sowing of crops such as sorghum and sunflowers where the seeds must be sown at regular spaced intervals. To the present, known seed planters have not provided the accuracy of metering the wide variety of seed sizes required.